Winston Churchill is famous for his advice during the Battle of Britain: “Never, ever, ever give up. Never give up. Never give up.” It is so easy to let setbacks set us back, to let disappointments discourage us. We can lose our first love, our original passion, our vision and focus.
Perseverance is the key to breakthrough in our lives, our marriages, our families and our work. Without perseverance, we don’t finish well, we don’t fight the good fight, we don’t keep the faith. The Good Shepherd once told a story in Luke 18:1-8 about a widow who was being exploited by a corrupt judge. Widows have historically been some of the most powerless people, lacking protection and financial resources. In some countries around the world, widows were even burned alive (Sati) on their husband’s funeral pyre. This widow had no bribe to pay off the judge, so instead she wore him out with her pleading.
The Good Shepherd Jesus commended this persevering widow, and encouraged us to be persevering, especially in our prayer lives, never giving up. Why are many people tempted to give up in their prayer lives? Sometimes the answers to our prayers often seem to take too long. Sometimes God says slow, or grow, or even no. When there is great grief in our lives, our prayer lives can take a hit. Our experience of tragedy can embitter us, and rob us of hope. Jesus commended the persevering widow as a model for all of us. God wants us to persevere.
Andrew Murray, a famous 19th Century South African write, once said “Of all the mysteries of the prayer world, the need for persevering prayer is one of the greatest.” A Facebook friend of mine, Matthew Lee Smith, sent me this note: “This Sunday, preach like Jesus is coming Monday! I am praying for you right now my friend!” I am so encouraged when I know that people are praying for me. People can gossip about you, or they can pray for you. It is a radical choice. It is so easy to get discouraged and cut back in our praying for certain people. We may not even want to think about them, let alone pray for them. It’s too painful. God wants us to persevere.
Jesus was a man of prayer. The closer Jesus came to the cross, the more he prayed. Jesus prayed like no one else did. He ever got a prayer named after him: The Lord’s Prayer. This is a challenging time to be a Christian, to attend Church, to be a worshiper. Without prayer, we will get taken out, distracted, knocked off course. If you are discouraged, pray. If you have lost heart, pray. If you don’t know the way forward, pray. Prayer is the way forward. God always makes a way when it seems that there is no way forward.
God loves to keep his promises. He loves to answer prayer. Prayer is about leaning on the everlasting arms. It is about trusting that He’s got the whole world in his hands, his faithfulness is great, and all that I have needed his hand has provided. Prayer is about practicing God’s presence. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. He loves us with an everlasting love. My prayer for those reading this article is that we will learn from the persevering widow to never give up, to always persist, and to always keep on praying.
The Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, BSW, MDiv, DMin
-an article previously published in the Deep Cove Crier/North Shore News
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
Who was William Carey, and why has he had such a major impact on our global culture? On May 26th 2013, I graduated with my Doctorate from Carey Theological College on the UBC Campus. While at Carey College, I often walked past a painting of Carey, showing his humble beginning as a village shoemaker in Paulersbury, England. Carey was fascinated with reading books about science, history and travel journals of explorers like Captain Cook. His village playmates nicknamed him Christopher Columbus. Carey said that he was addicted as a young person to swearing, lying, and alcohol. A major turning point happened when he was caught by his employer embezzling a shilling. Fortunately his employer did not press charges. For such petty larceny, Carey could have easily paid the price of imprisonment, forfeiture of goods and chattel, whipping or transportation for seven years to the plantations of the West Indies or America. Facing his own selfishness, Carey had a spiritual breakthrough by personally meeting Christ that had a lasting impact on his values and lifestyle.
Carey had a quick mind and a natural love of learning. He would have normally become a farm labourer, but suffered from a skin disease that made it painful for him to go out in the full sun. If Carey’s face and hands were exposed to the sun for any lengthy period, he would suffer agony throughout the night. So instead he became a cobbler, making shoes. While making shoes, he was able to read and pray. Through this, Carey developed a conviction that he was to go to India. His unimaginative friends and colleagues tried to talk him out of this fantasy. His five-month pregnant wife Dorothy was also dead-set against it. His own father Edmund wondered if his son had lost his mind. Carey said to his dad: “I am not my own nor would I choose for myself. Let God employ me where he thinks fit.”
With unshakable determination, Carey went to India in 1793 which was under the control of the East India Company. He later ended up becoming a Professor of Bengali and Sanskrit in Calcutta, India. Through teaching at Fort Williams College in Calcutta, he was investing in young civil servants from England, helping them to have a good start in India. Carey believed that the future was as bright as the promises of God. He had an exceptional natural gift for languages. Carey called himself a plodder; whatever he started, he always finished. Unlike a number of his family members and closest friends, Carey survived malaria and numerous other tropical diseases. His first wife Dorothy however had a nervous breakdown before later dying. Carey was heartbroken.
Some bureaucrats from the East India Company did their best to expel Carey and his team from India. Anything that might affect financial profit was seen as a threat. William Wilberforce however, having finally abolished the slave trade, presented 837 petitions to the British Parliament representing over half a million signatures, requesting that ‘these good and great men’ be allowed to stay in India. Carey’s enemies attacked him in Parliament for being a lowly shoemaker. Wilberforce won the day in the Charter Renewal Bill of 1813.
Carey’s motto was “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”
Entirely self-taught, Carey impacted the emerging generation of Indian leaders that birthed the burgeoning modern democracy of India. Serampore College was founded by Carey and his colleagues in 1818. He produced six grammars of Bengali, Sanskrit, Marathi, Panjabi, Telugi, and Kanarese, and with John Clark Marshman, one of Bhutia. He also translated the whole Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit, and parts of it into twenty-nine other languages or dialects. Scholars say that Carey significantly contributed to the renaissance of Indian Literature in the nineteenth century.
While an ordained preacher and a church planter, Carey was fascinated with all aspects of daily living. In 1818 Carey founded two magazines and a newspaper, the Samachar Darpan, the first newspaper printed in any Asian language. He was the father of Indian printing technology, building what was then their largest printing press. Carey was the first to make indigenous paper for the Indian publishing industry. He brought the steam engine to India, and pioneered the idea of lending libraries in India. Carey introduced the concept of a ‘Savings Bank’ to India, in order to fight the all-pervasive social evil of usury at interest rates of 36% to 72%.
Carey introduced the study of astronomy as a science, teaching that the stars and planets are God’s creation set by him in an observable order, rather than astrological deities fatalistically controlling one’s life. He was the founder of the Agri-Horticultural Society in the 1820s, thirty years before the Royal Agricultural Society was established in England. Carey was the first person in India to write about forest conservation. In 1823, he was elected as a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, one of the world’s most distinguished botanical societies even today. As Carey’s favorite flowers were lilies, he had the honour of having one (Careyanum) named after him.
Having a strong social conscience, Carey was the first man to oppose the Sati widow-burning and female infanticide. Sati was finally banned by the Government of India in 1829. He also campaigned for humane treatment of lepers who were being burned or buried alive because of their bad karma. The view at the point was that leprosy was a deserved punishment in the fifth cycle of reincarnation.
Carey loved India and never returned home to England, dying in 1834 at the age of 73. Near the end, he said: ““You have been speaking about William Carey. When I am gone, say nothing about William Carey-speak only about William Carey’s Saviour.” My prayer for those reading this article is that we too would have the passion for learning and making a difference that William Carey once had.
P. S. Click this Amazon link to view for free the first two chapters of our new novel Blue Sky.
“I’m afraid there’s been an accident…”
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Sandy receives shocking news that her children aren’t safe, which brings back haunting memories of the trauma she experienced as a girl. Then, the unthinkable happens…
A brutal attack puts Sandy on the brink of losing everything she’s loved. Her faith in God and the family she cherishes are pushed to the ultimate limit.
Is healing possible when so many loved ones are hurt? Are miracles really possible through the power of prayer? Can life return to the way it was before?
Blue Sky reveals how a mother’s most basic instinct isn’t for survival… but for family.
If you’re a fan of Karen Kingsbury, then you’ll love Blue Sky. Get your copy today on paperback or kindle.
-The sequel book Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit is available online with Amazon.com in both paperback and ebook form. Dr. JI Packer wrote the foreword, saying “I heartily commend what he has written.” The book focuses on strengthening a new generation of healthy leaders. Drawing on examples from Titus’ healthy leadership in the pirate island of Crete, it shows how we can embrace a holistically healthy life.
To receive a personally signed copy within North America, just etransfer at ed_hird@telus.net, giving your address. Cheques are also acceptable.
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
-Click to purchase the Companion Bible Study by Jan Cox (for the Battle of the Soul of Canada) in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca
To purchase any of our six books in paperback or ebook on Amazon, just click on this link.
The Good Shepherd Jesus commended this persevering widow, and encouraged us to be persevering, especially in our prayer lives, never giving up. Why are many people tempted to give up in their prayer lives? Sometimes the answers to our prayers often seem to take too long. Sometimes God says slow, or grow, or even no. When there is great grief in our lives, our prayer lives can take a hit. Our experience of tragedy can embitter us, and rob us of hope. Jesus commended the persevering widow as a model for all of us. God wants us to persevere.
Jesus was a man of prayer. The closer Jesus came to the cross, the more he prayed. Jesus prayed like no one else did. He ever got a prayer named after him: The Lord’s Prayer. This is a challenging time to be a Christian, to attend Church, to be a worshiper. Without prayer, we will get taken out, distracted, knocked off course. If you are discouraged, pray. If you have lost heart, pray. If you don’t know the way forward, pray. Prayer is the way forward. God always makes a way when it seems that there is no way forward.
Sandy Brown and her family have just moved to Spokane, Washington where her husband, Scott, is pastoring a new church. With a fresh start, Sandy is determined to devote more time to her four children. But, within weeks of settling in their new life, the Brown family is plunged into turmoil.
Edhird's Blog 